Zion National Park

Magnificent Zion

Tight Squeeze

Canyon wall

We had a wonderful day today at Zion National Park with the Fern’s sister Jane, her husband Marty, his cousin Jerry and his wife Vivian.  They drove up to Utah from their homes near Phoenix to join us exploring Zion and Bryce National Parks.

Our motel is the Bumbleberry Inn in Springdale, Utah, the gateway to Zion.  We have a gorgeous view of the red rocks from our balcony.  We still need to explore the wonders of Bumbleberry Pie and ice cream. The Springdale community has a population of fewer than 500 persons.  It is a lovely picture perfect community that welcomes the thousands of tourists that pass through its gates.  The shops are open until nine at night to accommodate the daytime priority of hiking not shopping.  A shuttle bus stops at our door and takes us to the Park.  It was crowded this morning, packed with standing passengers and others let waiting for the next bus.  From there the national park’s shuttle (private cars not allowed) delivers everyone to the various sites in the Park where climbs and hikes begin. 

We are feeling muscles tonight that have not been used in some time.  Maybe if we had a hiking stick like the other hikers we would not have this problem.  This is the first park where we have noticed a lot of European visitors.  I heard a lot of German being spoken.  The Germans are great hikers so they must know Zion has hikes for all skill levels.  We tried the easy level hikes.

Mist from the Rocks

Virgin River runs through the Canyon